=====================================================================
NEWSBYTES - October 16, 2009
=====================================================================
The Advisory Council on the Status of Women is the provincial government agency that promotes equality, fairness and dignity for women, by bringing forward concerns and advising the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women Act. Through research, policy, education, and partnerships, the council works to ensure women have an equal voice in society, fair pay and pensions, freedom from violence, and good health and well-being.
Newsbytes is a free bi-weekly e-mail newsletter with links to stories and contacts.
You can also read the newsletter and about coming events at the Advisory Council's website: <http://www.women.gov.ns.ca >.
Also, visit our online catalogue at <http://women.gov.ns.ca/library.asp> or access it through the Provincial Library at "One-Place-to-Look" <http://ibistro.library.ns.ca/, or come visit us!
CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
/1/ It’s Not Too Late to Attend the Campaign School for Women
/2/ Persons Day Breakfast
/3/ Women's Excellence Awards
/4/ Woman Wins the Nobel Prize in Economics for the First Time
/5/ Cross-Canada Tour for Public Child Care
/6/ Respite Partnership Launches Website
/7/ AIDS Awareness Week 2009 – Focus on Girls and Women
/8/ Families in the Eyes of the Law
/9/ Bill to Create “National Housing Plan”
/10/ From Homeless to Home (Video)
/11/ How Canada Performs: a Report Card
/12/ Unity in Diversity
/13/ Call for Applications: 2010/2011 IWK Community Grants Program
/14/ Did You Know?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/1/ IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO ATTEND THE CAMPAIGN SCHOOL FOR WOMEN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nova Scotia Campaign School for Women begins on Friday, October 16 at noon. We have room for more participants. Call us at 424-8662 or sign up through this link:
http://women.gov.ns.ca/SavedDocs/RunningforOfficeRegistration2009.pdf .
Learn more at http://www.gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=20091007004 .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/2/ PERSONS DAY BREAKFAST
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You’re invited to an event sponsored by the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) on Oct 19. The guest speaker is Rene Ross of Stepping Stone. The breakfast is in recognition of the 1929 Persons Case which ruled that women are persons under the law – a momentous step enabling women to participate in all aspects of Canadian public life. For more information visit our Calendar of Events at: http://women.gov.ns.ca/calendar.asp .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/3/ WOMEN'S EXCELLENCE AWARDS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Advisory Council congratulates Mufaro Chakabuda from the Maritime Centre for African Dance for receiving the Women's Excellence Award from the Canadian Progress Club. The award dinner is being held at the World Trade Convention Centre on November 19. Please contact afrikandance2005@yahoo.ca for more information.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/4/ WOMAN WINS THE NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS FOR THE FIRST TIME
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nobel Prize in Economic Science 2009 was awarded to an American female scientist for her work in economic governance. She is the first woman recipient in this field.
Thirty-seven women received Nobel Prizes since they were first handed out in 1901, including 10 women who won the medicine prize.
The first woman laureate was Maria Sklodowska Curie, who won Nobel Prizes in both physics and chemistry. Other women who received Nobel Prizes include literature winners Toni Morrison and Doris Lessing and peace prize laureates Aung San Suu Kyi, a democracy activist in Myanmar, and Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi. No woman has ever won the economics prize since it was first given out in 1969 until this year.
Source: Nobel Foundation, October 2009
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/5/ CROSS-CANADA TOUR FOR PUBLIC CHILD CARE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part of a cross-Canada tour, a meeting on child care will take place in Halifax on October 29.
Come to this public event aimed at developing and moving forward a 21st-century vision for an Early Childhood Education Council. The speakers will be Martha Friendly (Childcare Resource and Research Unit in Toronto) and Susan Prentice (University of Manitoba sociology professor), co-authors of the just-published “About Canada: Childcare”.
For details visit our Events Calendar at: http://women.gov.ns.ca/calendar.asp .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/6/ RESPITE PARTNERSHIP LAUNCHES WEBSITE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nova Scotia Partnership on Respite, Family Health and Well-Being is a consortium of parents, community agencies, health service providers, academic researchers, and government departments, and agencies who have been working diligently to try to address the support needs of families who have children/adult children with disabilities.
Through workshops conducted across Nova Scotia, the Respite Partnership has been educating parents and caregivers about respite, offering parents/caregivers the opportunity to connect and network with other parents, and identifying how respite services and policies may be designed and enhanced to better support these families. The partnership is co-chaired by the Advisory Council on the Status of Women and the Disabled Persons Commission.
The Respite Partnership has developed a website/social network to offer parents/caregivers, service providers and others with a central location for respite information, events and workshops of interest, and the opportunity to connect with others around respite and other support issues. Visit us at: www.respitepartnership.ning.com .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/7/ AIDS AWARENESS WEEK 2009 – FOCUS ON GIRLS AND WOMEN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AIDS Awareness Week (November 24 to December 1) aims to increase public awareness about HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS affects all of us but each year the people and community organizations responsible for organizing the awareness week in Nova Scotia identify how HIV/AIDS affects a very vulnerable population. This year the focus is on delivering messages relating to healthy sexuality and HIV/AIDS prevention to youth, particularly girls and young women in Nova Scotia.
The organizing committee: African Diaspora Association of the Maritimes; Aloma Graham; Dalhousie Women's Centre; Disabled Women's Network (DAWN); Healing Our Nations; Health Association of African Canadians; Nova Scotia Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS; Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women; Nova Scotia Sexual Health Centres; OXFAM; Pride Health; Public Health Agency of Canada; Stepping Stone; Taryn Della; and YMCA Newcomers Program.
For information about AIDS Awareness Week activities happening across the province including a poster contest for youth, please visit the Advisory Council's website at: http://www.women.gov.ns.ca and look for AIDS Awareness Week under the What's New? section at the top of our home page. Information will be posted in the coming days and updated as we are made aware of community events.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/8/ FAMILIES IN THE EYES OF THE LAW
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new study, "Families in the Eyes of the Law: Contemporary Challenges and the Grip of the Past," found that while family law has evolved to take into account new family situations, the legal framework for families is being rapidly outpaced by changing family relationships.
Author Robert Leckey analyzes contemporary family law in Canada - in the common law provinces as well as in Quebec - specifically questions of custody, marriage and divorce, parentage, and the legal recognition of unmarried couples.
Finding the gap between practices of family life and the ideals of family law increasingly pronounced, the author proposes several changes in order to better reflect the diverse forms of modern family life. Leckey recommends, among other things, that provinces consider creating a registration option for family relationships other than conjugal couples, and he calls for the creation of an intermediate status between parent and legal stranger.
Learn more:
Study: http://www.irpp.org/choices/archive/vol15no8.pdf
Summary: http://www.irpp.org/newsroom/archive/2009/0714sume.pdf
Source: IRPP, July 2009.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/9/ BILL TO CREATE NATIONAL HOUSING PLAN”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill C-304, an act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians, passed second reading in the House of Commons on Sept. 30 and is going to committee for review and possible amendment.
This draft legislation was propelled by:
• A rising concern across the country about deep and persistent housing insecurity, and
• Support from the minority Parliament and from housing and homelessness groups across the country.
Next step for the bill is the Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities Committee of the Commons, which will consider the draft legislation and possible amendments, before sending it back to the House for the third and final reading.
Learn more: Bill C-304, An Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3660878&File=33&Language=e&Mode=1
Source: Wellesley Institute, Sept. 30, 2009.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/10/ FROM HOMELESS TO HOME (VIDEO)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Homeless to Home is one of five ways developed in a project to help the community learn from people who have been homeless in Ottawa and to bring to life for a broad audience the findings from the Panel Study on Homelessness in Ottawa. Through a partnership between the
University of Ottawa, Carleton University and the Alliance to End Homelessness, the project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through its Homelessness and Diversity Issues initiative. The project shares with the broader community answers to these questions – Who is homeless in Ottawa ? How do people move into and out of homelessness? What challenges do they face? How do people become homeless? How can community organizations, governments and people in the community work together to end homelessness?
See the video: http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/homeless-to-home/homeless-to-home.cfm
Source: Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa, http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/ ,
Sept. 2009.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/11/ HOW CANADA PERFORMS: A REPORT CARD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The website How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada assesses Canada's quality of life compared to peer countries. There is an overall report card and individual ones measuring measure performance in six categories. The Society section of the report (link below) was released on Sept. 17.
Learn more: http://www.conferenceboard.ca/HCP/default.aspx
Source: the Conference Board of Canada, September 2009, http://www.conferenceboard.ca .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/12/ UNITY IN DIVERSITY
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced the official launch of the 2009–2010 Mathieu Da Costa Challenge National Creative Writing and Artwork Contest. This challenge celebrates the importance of multiculturalism and diversity in Canada. It’s open to youth aged 9 to 18, and provides them the opportunity to use their creative talents to discover how people from different backgrounds have helped make Canada what it is today.
Three winning entries will be selected from each age group (9–12, 13–15 and 16–18) for these categories:
• Original piece of writing in English
• Original piece of writing in French
• Original piece of artwork
Additional honours include the Mathieu Da Costa Parks Canada Award given to the three best submissions featuring the contributions of a National Historic Person of Aboriginal, African or other background to the building of Canada – and the Public Choice Award, on which Canadians vote. The winners, accompanied by a parent/guardian, receive an all-expenses paid trip to Ottawa where they take part in an awards ceremony hosted by the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Feb.19, 2010.
For more information visit: http://www.mathieudacosta.gc.ca .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/13/ CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: 2010/2011 IWK COMMUNITY GRANTS PROGRAM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The intention of this program is to return to communities a portion of donations given to the IWK Health Centre Foundation to help establish outcome-based community health programs that target IWK Health Centre priorities. Priority for funding is based on community projects that address one or more of the following areas:
• Supporting the healthy growth and development of children 0-6 years, including the pre-natal period
• Preventing child/youth obesity
• Supporting parents of children 0-16 years in their parenting role
• Addressing the needs of "at risk" youth
• Improving women's wellness across the adult and senior years
• Reducing the incidence/severity of child and youth injuries
Deadline for the application is Nov. 30, 2009. For more information, contact Julie Harrington, IWK Community Grants Coordinator at (902) 443-2563 or by email at julie.harrington@iwk.nshealth.ca .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/14/ DID YOU KNOW....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That Oct. 17 is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty?
The Make Poverty History campaign was launched in Canada in 2005, with the support of a wide cross-section of public interest and faith groups, trade unions, students, academics, literary, artistic, and sports leaders. National campaigns are now active in more than 100 countries.
What are you doing for STAND UP?
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/en/blog/what-are-you-doing-stand
Source: Make Poverty History, which is part of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP): http://www.whiteband.org/ .
To see scheduled events visit our Events Calendar at: http://women.gov.ns.ca/calendar.asp .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT ISSUE – October 30, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPREAD THE WORD! FORWARD NEWSBYTES TO A FRIEND! To subscribe, send a blank e-mail message to join-nsacsw@lists.gov.ns.ca .
Or you can sign up at http://www.women.gov.ns.ca/medianewsletter.asp .